Government Is The Answer To Economic Prosperity?

E.J. Dionne has apparently mistaken Joe Biden’s passion for intelligent thought. In an interview with Biden, Dionne quotes him as saying:

“We will continue to be the most significant and dominant influence in the world as long as our economy is strong, growing and responsive to 21st-century needs. And they relate to education, they relate to energy, and they relate to health care.”

On he went: “Give me a break. So many people have bet on our demise that it absolutely drives me crazy. . . . There’s sort of an attitude that is both politically directed by our Republican friends but also believed by a fair number of people that we just can’t make this transition in the 21st century.

“I want to tell you something, because if we cede the ground to those who suggest that — I don’t mean foreigners, I mean domestic critics — that somehow, we are destined to fulfill [historian Paul] Kennedy’s prophecy that we are going to be a great nation that has failed because we lost control of our economy and overextended, then we might as well throw it in now, for God’s sake. I mean it’s ridiculous.”

“We will continue to be the most significant and dominant influence in the world as long as our economy is strong, growing and responsive to 21st-century needs. And they relate to education, they relate to energy, and they relate to health care.”

That increasing government intervention is the answer to a strong economy. That the answer lies in education (reform), energy (cap-and-trade) and health care (reform). IOW, unlike in any previous era, Joe Biden is claiming government is the key to building wealth and economic prosperity. Not one mention in his clueless tirade about markets, economic freedom, entrepreneurship or business. None. In Joe Biden’s world, economic strength seems to depend solely on government. The fact that the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries of United States history show him up for the windbag he is, apparently doesn’t phase him. Or Dionne either, for that matter. It is pure liberal economic cluelessness crossed with Joe Biden’s usual verbal flatulence. Dionne apparently buys into it.

In fact Dionne goes on to say:

Beneath the predictable back-and-forth between Obama and his Republican adversaries over government spending lies a substantively important difference over how the United States can maintain its global leadership.

[…]

For Republicans, American power is rooted largely in military might and showing a tough and resolute face to the world. They would rely on tax cuts as the one and only spur to economic growth.

Obama, Biden and the Democrats, on the other hand, believe that American power depends ultimately on the American economy, and that government has an essential role to play in fostering the next generation of growth.

Republicans believe that “American power is rooted largely in military might?”

Really!?

So all those charges of “friends to big business” and “the party of business” were just so much hot air – that it’s always been about “military power” and nothing else? How purposefully tendentious does one have to be to live in Washington, cover politics for a living and write something like that?

And then to claim that the GOP’s “one and only spur to economic growth” is the tax cut is absolutely stunning. You have to wonder if alcohol or weed (or both) were present and in use when this was being written (and I’d have to wonder about those 3 layers of editors as well). If they can’t use that as an excuse I’m at a loss to explain the sheer cluelessness of such a statement.

Republicans don’t care about economic growth? Just military might? Hard to see where he gets that, considering that the post-Reagan conservative movement and the Republican party have been devoted to market capitalism. Indeed, the slur on Republicans has been that all they cared about was wealth creation. Oh, but they are just interested in “tax cuts.” Well, that and free trade, modest regulation, legal reform, and other conditions that spur economic growth, investment, and wealth creation.

If Dionne really believes what he wrote he has no business writing political opinion columns for anyone, much less the Washington Post. That’s the most ill informed sentence I’ve seen in some time. And his sentence touting Obama, Biden and the Democrat’s belief that the economy is what America’s power depends on is refuted by Biden’s own words. Biden is saying the economy depends on government. Therefore “America’s power” depends on government’s management of the economy – not the economy itself. When he claims it all depends on “education, energy and health care”, he’s parroting the Democrats agenda for more government intervention, regulation and intrusion. If you don’t believe that, Rubin provides the proof:

Dionne considers this all trivial or dim because he and liberals are convinced that government creates wealth, that public spending creates jobs, and that expansion of the public sector is the way to a brighter future. In fact, he congratulates the president for cheering on the competition in statism with other powers. In the State of the Union, Dionne recalls, the president vowed that no nation would get the jump on us when it comes to government programs. (”Meanwhile, China is not waiting to revamp its economy. Germany is not waiting. India is not waiting. These nations aren’t standing still. These nations aren’t playing for second place. They’re putting more emphasis on math and science. They’re rebuilding their infrastructure. They’re making serious investments in clean energy because they want those jobs.”)

That’s right, in the SOTU, Obama stressed precisely what Biden is saying and Dionne is parroting. China – of all places – was first on Obama’s list of nations to apparently emulate. And not in the sense you’d like to believe. He didn’t say China’s entrepreneurs are turning that economy around. He’s talking about government. The government of China, the government of Germany, the government of India – they are the purported engines of economic recovery and wealth creation.

Is it any surprise then to find that he, Biden and liberals like Dionne are of the opinion that more government and more government spending is the path to economic success? A former community organizer, a professional politician and professional pundit all claiming that the laws of economics are null and void and that the path to proseperity is through bigger and more expensive government? All we need now is Hugo Chavez to add some real intellectual economic heft to that group [/sarcasm].

All the more reason to be thankful the supermajority in the Senate will be history at 5pm today. The “party of no” has its work cut out for it.

14 Responses to Government Is The Answer To Economic Prosperity?

I live here, so I read the Post fairly regularly. I’ve developed a process:
1) Find article you want to read
2) Check the byline
3) If it says “EJ Dionne”, skip it and go back to step 1.
Also, apparently the Post fires people if their articles don’t provide enough hits on their website. If you don’t read his ramblings either, maybe the Post will get the hint and give that joker’s space to someone else.

Uh, you should know that Biden is an imbecile. The man sees a movie, can’t describe it, can’t tell anyone what it is really about, and only remembers its title when Andrea Mitchell tells him what the title is. How this schmuck got elected to anything higher than dog catcher is beyond me. And all the comedians say is, “Well, that’s just Joe.” No, folks – that is a moron.

So, if you take anything Biden seriously, you start off badly right from the start.

Well, I thought Biden pointing out how FDR reassured the nation with his TV appearance at the start of the Great Depression was a good reminder to our current political leaders of how they ought to respond to a crisis. Plus, Joe has forgotten more about foreign policy than most people ever learn. Who WOULDN’T have the deepest respect for this man???

We will continue to be the most significant and dominant influence in the world as long as our economy is strong, growing and responsive to 21st-century needs. And they relate to education, they relate to energy, and they relate to health care

>>>> He’s a moron but he’s actually correct about 2 of the 3 in this sentance.

Of course, he’s dead wrong about how to deal with them. Don’t forget, he’s still a worthless idiot

Chuckle, sounds like Dionne touched a nerve. Perhaps you realize that he’s on to the best way the Democrats can recast the debate and come out on top. My own blog has what I think Obama should say in what I call his “patriotism” speech. If the Republicans are seen putting ideology over America, they’ll lose any high ground they want. Remember, the EU met the Kyoto protocol goals and in so doing the investment governments made into green technology has pushed them ahead of the US and helped stimulate their economies. That reality may go against the conservative narrative, but it’s a fact nonetheless.

Remember, the EU met the Kyoto protocol goals and in so doing the investment governments made into green technology has pushed them ahead of the US and helped stimulate their economies. That reality may go against the conservative narrative, but it’s a fact nonetheless.

“Give me a break. So many people have bet on our demise that it absolutely drives me crazy. ”

Wow. So Joe Biden knows Erb too.

“And then to claim that the GOP’s “one and only spur to economic growth” is the tax cut is absolutely stunning.”

I don’t know, Dionne may be on to something there. It seems to me that after a couple of years of helping the Dem’s increase spending and such, at every election the Rep’s start the same old refrain–“We are going to cut your taxes!” Then, after the election, it’s back to the same old spending and regulating. Cutting taxes does seem to be the only constant in Rep. politicfal speech.